Formatting 8

Chapter 8: Salty Pig Trotter, This Is His Type Now

Fortunately, Li Ge didn’t notice them. He seemed to have just finished a call, holding his phone and walking towards the elevator.

Chen Shuo stopped, preparing to let Lin Yuzhi go upstairs first. Before he could speak, an enthusiastic greeting came from beside him.

“Assistant Chen!”

The hotel lobby was relatively quiet at ten o’clock. Yu Rui, focused on greeting, didn’t realize how inappropriate his loud voice was, nor did he notice Assistant Chen’s almost strained expression.

“It really is you, I thought your physique looked familiar, good morning!”

“…” Chen Shuo couldn’t avoid it. His gaze met Li Ge’s again, watching as the elevator doors opened, but the other party didn’t go in.

He looked away, his expression unchanged as he faced Yu Rui, politely returning the greeting, “Good morning, Assistant Yu.”

As fellow assistants, Yu Rui felt a sense of camaraderie with Chen Shuo, especially after seeing the flamboyant little actor beside him, he guessed why Chen Shuo was here.

Fellow sufferers…

“Let’s go.” Yu Rui invited Chen Shuo, “Mr. Li is here, you can tell him what’s going on.”

Work was work, Chen Shuo had to accept the invitation.

“Is it Mr. Li from Gewu Media?” Lin Yuzhi hadn’t heard yesterday’s gossip, he only knew that the movie was invested in by Gewu Media, and the boss was rich and handsome.

Yu Rui turned back and reminded Lin Yuzhi, “Just focus on acting your part.”

In front of Li Ge, Chen Shuo remained respectful, “Hello, Mr. Li.”

Li Ge nodded slightly in acknowledgment, “Did CEO He send you here?” Without waiting for Chen Shuo to reply, he entered the elevator, “We’ll talk upstairs.”

Lin Yuzhi was the second to enter the elevator, intending to use the opportunity to flatter the boss, but the rich and handsome boss was looking at his phone, giving him no chance.

Yu Rui was the third to enter, consciously standing behind Li Ge like Lin Yuzhi. The two of them were like left and right guardians, making Chen Shuo seem superfluous.

Li Ge stood right in the middle. Chen Shuo suspected that even if he wasn’t looking at his phone, this pampered rich person wouldn’t have the habit of yielding. He inadvertently brushed against the other person and almost lost his composure again, worried that something bad would happen today.

A subtle atmosphere filled the elevator. No one spoke, only the faint sound of breathing could be heard. They all maintained a tacit silence and distance.

Except for Li Ge, who was busy replying to his lover’s messages.

Having easily gotten his hands on the musician last night, Li Ge was currently enjoying the novelty. The lover, who had just woken up, was acting coquettishly in his text messages, complaining that he was too strong, that thing was too big and fierce, his waist and legs were sore, and he couldn’t even play the violin anymore.

He was in a great mood, typing on the screen, “Don’t work part-time at the restaurant anymore, I don’t want you to overwork yourself.”

In this limited and slightly oppressive space, Chen Shuo stood in the corner, trying to minimize his presence.

But he was the most eye-catching among the four. His height alone was 1.87 meters, and the tailored suit accentuated his strong and well-proportioned physique. If one didn’t know better, they would think he was a model endorsing the suit brand, completely overshadowing Li Ge, the highest-ranking person present.

The elevator went directly to the sixth floor. Li Ge finished replying to his messages and put away his phone. As he looked up, a conspicuous dark figure appeared in his peripheral vision.

He glanced at the mirror on the elevator wall, his gaze sweeping over Chen Shuo. After the elevator doors opened and he stepped out, he deliberately paused and turned back to ask,

“Assistant Chen, how tall are you?”

“…” Chen Shuo was stunned, then recalled Li Ge’s frivolous appraisal last night.

“Yu Rui,” Li Ge pointed his chin at Lin Yuzhi, “Take this… whoever he is to Director Liu. And that other one, don’t let him appear in front of me.”

Lin Yuzhi hurriedly introduced himself enthusiastically, trying to attract the film investor with his looks, but he didn’t even get a glance from Mr. Li before being taken away by Assistant Yu.

“I’m asking you, how tall are you?” Li Ge glanced at Chen Shuo again.

If any other man asked Chen Shuo his height, he wouldn’t find it strange, except for this promiscuous homosexual.

To minimize his presence, he slightly bowed and lowered his head, making himself appear shorter, then calmly said, “Mr. Li, I’m about 1.8 meters, I’m wearing elevator shoes.”

Anyone who looked closely could tell that Chen Shuo was lying.

But Li Ge was different. Having had his fill with the delicate musician last night, he was in high spirits and didn’t bother to care that Chen Shuo was stealing his thunder. On the contrary, he was amused.

“You’re quite funny.” He chuckled, “Feeling inferior at 1.8 meters, why don’t you wear stilts?”

Faced with the teasing, Chen Shuo remained silent.

He clearly sensed Li Ge’s amusement and silently noted his characteristics in his mind: Extroverted personality, strong self-esteem, dislikes being overshadowed, doesn’t pay attention to the occasion, casual in words and actions, frivolous behavior.

His assistant messaged him that the irrelevant people had been dismissed by Liu Dasen in advance. Li Ge started walking. After a few steps, he didn’t hear any sound behind him, so he turned back to see the little assistant still standing there.

“What are you standing there for, don’t you need to report back? Keep up.”

“…”

Chen Shuo looked at the carefree figure walking in front of him. No matter how well-dressed Li Ge was, he couldn’t hide the roguish air of a second-rate hoodlum.

He made another note: This person can be communicated with normally when he’s in a good mood.

What happened next was just as Chen Shuo expected. Li Ge was quite normal when talking to Liu Dasen. He was also polite to the producer and other staff present. He had come personally to finalize the cast.

“Now we’re only missing the lead actor, right?” Li Ge asked.

Lin Yuzhi approached him with a pitiful expression and whispered, “And me, Mr. Li, please arrange a role for me personally, I beg you.”

Hearing the squeaky voice, Li Ge almost got goosebumps. He glared and said, “This is a serious art film, not a porn film, can you speak properly?”

“…” Lin Yuzhi’s face turned pale, immediately becoming obedient.

Jin Hu, standing beside them, couldn’t help but chuckle, only to be pinched by his senior. He quickly covered his mouth, seeing that Chen Shuo remained quietly standing in the corner.

“Mr. Li, why don’t you consider Assistant Chen? He’s handsome, and his temperament fits the male lead.”

Meeting Li Ge’s gaze, the quiet Chen Shuo spoke in a timely manner, “Mr. Li, please leave professional matters to professionals. I’m not suitable, and I have no such intentions.”

“I didn’t say you were suitable.” Li Ge looked away, rejecting Jin Hu’s suggestion, “What kind of eyesight do you have? His physique can’t portray the male lead’s sickly state, he needs to lose at least thirty pounds.”

Chen Shuo: “…”

Lin Yuzhi seized the opportunity to recommend himself, “Mr. Li, I can act sickly, give me a chance to try, okay?”

In the end, Li Ge didn’t even glance at Lin Yuzhi. He scanned through the information of the actors who passed the audition and told Liu Dasen to call the actor who was confirmed for the third male lead yesterday to try out the male lead’s scenes. If there were no problems, he would switch the third male lead to Lin Yuzhi, and the newcomer would play the male lead.

Learning that the second male lead was a corpse from beginning to end, Lin Yuzhi found it unlucky and felt he couldn’t showcase his acting skills, finally becoming obedient. However, his audition was stumbling and awkward, wasting everyone’s time.

Chen Shuo remained quietly in the corner of the meeting room, watching Li Ge arrange the following work with experience and in an orderly manner, as if he was the producer. Liu Dasen nodded repeatedly beside Li Ge, not daring to disobey.

He found that Li Ge, when immersed in work, wasn’t as unreliable as he thought. Perhaps the development of Gewu Media within just two years wasn’t entirely due to CEO He’s connections.

With this, the troublesome matter was completely resolved.

“Mr. Li, thank you very much today, I’ll be going back now.”

Hearing this, Li Ge didn’t turn back, only instructing Chen Shuo, “It wasn’t easy for me today, tell your CEO He to treat me to a meal.”

“Okay.”

Chen Shuo’s impression of Li Ge slightly improved, going from negative back to zero. He thought he had been too prejudiced before. At least in terms of today’s work, Li Ge had indeed handled things well.

But this thought didn’t last long.

Just as he left the meeting room and closed the door, Chen Shuo bumped into a man with slightly red eyes. The man looked anxious, asking him about Li Ge.

“Is Mr. Li still inside? Can you go in and pass a message to him for me?”

“Sorry.” Chen Shuo refused. As he was about to leave, his arm was suddenly grabbed by the man.

“Please, I’m afraid of going in directly and angering him, can you just ask him to come out for a moment? I really want to see him…”

Having been pestered enough on the Lantern Festival, Chen Shuo disliked physical contact and quickly withdrew his arm, refusing again, “Sorry, I can’t help you.”

As soon as Li Ge opened the door, a “Honey” rang out. He frowned and scolded the little star, “Who allowed you to come near me? Don’t you know that the sight of you makes me sick now?” He pushed the person away and strode forward.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Chen Shuo remembered that Li Ge would take his anger out on innocent people, so he quickened his pace. If he didn’t leave quickly, something bad might happen.

The little star being kept by the investor wasn’t a secret in the production crew. He no longer cared about his face, chasing after Li Ge and blocking his way, crying out in despair.

“You said I was the only one for you, you said you loved me, how long has it been before you changed your mind…”

“Fuck.” Li Ge was speechless. How could anyone still believe the nonsense he said in bed these days? Truly loving one person at a time, how many pieces would his heart have to be broken into?

“Why…” The little star whimpered.

“Don’t cry here, I’ve given you everything you deserve. The sight of you really makes me sick now, my taste has changed, understand? This is my type now.”

There was no one else in front of the elevator. Chen Shuo paused, wondering who the “this” in Li Ge’s words referred to. Suddenly, he felt a weight on his shoulder.

He turned his head and saw a salty pig trotter resting on his shoulder.